The sophomore is expected back on Wednesday in the ACC opener.
Having not played since Dec. 22, the Syracuse University men's basketball team will be back on the floor on Wednesday afternoon for a New Years Eve showdown against Clemson.
It will be the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opener for the Orange, who are 9-4 overall. Syracuse hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2020-21 and needs an excellent performance in league play to get there this season.
The return of Donnie Freeman should help.
The big man has missed the last nine games with a right foot injury, but is expected to play on Wednesday. He's leading the team in scoring at 17.8 ppg, though those numbers were accumulated in a soft first four non-conference games (Binghamton, Delaware State, Drexel, and Monmouth).
As he returns, we have three big questions for the group:
1) Conditioning
Freeman hasn't played since Nov. 18. Any time you take more than a month off, questions about conditioning are fair. If this SU team wants to hit its goals in the ACC, they'll need Freeman, but can they really rely on him yet? What can they expect on Wednesday? Is it 30 minutes of him flying around the court? Is it 15 minutes? Can he play long stretches, or does he need short bursts? We'll find out.
2) What will happen to Sadiq White Jr.?
The talented freshman from North Carolina seems most likely to have his playing time suffer in the wake of Freeman's return. And while that's great for the Orange as a whole, it's less good for White's development. He's started nine games this season, averaging 7.9 ppg and 4.6 rebounds. He's uber-athletic and his development is a fun thing to monitor for Adrian Autry's team, so they'll have to work on finding him minutes, even if it's not the 20 a game he's averaging for the season.
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3) How about the spacing?
Neither White or William Kyle III are threats from three-point range. As such, when they are on the floor together, the lane is often clogged. Either both of them are in the post looking for rebounds, or defenses can sag off them at the perimeter in order to clog the lane.
Freeman took 11 three-pointers in his four games, so he's more of a stretch-the-floor player. If defenses can't sag in the middle, that should open some things up in terms of dribble penetration and open kick-outs.
In the video above, Autry spoke about Freeman's ability to make the court "more open," which is exactly what we're talking about.
Need to know
--Wednesday's game is an afternoon start at 2 p.m. ET. Follow our own @TomGozz for updates as he will be live at the JMA Wireless Dome.
--The Syracuse women suffered just their second loss of the season on Sunday, dropping a 71-51 decision at home against Duke.
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